President Clinton's Speech at UCLA - My Own Experience

Former President Bill Clinton spoke at UCLA last Friday, October 13, to promote Proposition 87 in the November 7 election.

The moment I found out about it the day before (Thursday, Oct. 12), I got so excited that I downloaded the free ticket to watch the speech as soon as I got home. I initially didn't care what Clinton was to talk about. All I wanted was to see this former US president who has my respect at least for being able to speak in intelligible sentences. This is not to say that the topic itself was unimportant. It was, after all, about alternative energy and tax on California oil producers.

Now I really do not understand the bill so I cannot say whether I agree with Clinton who supports it. Maybe that's a good time to hear about it. Or maybe I shouldn't really care. (By the way, reading about a good bill that gets vetoed or politicians blabbering off with words fashioned from twisted logic is enough to appall me). On one hand, I'm not a US citizen so maybe I shouldn't care about their bills. On the other, certain bills do have an impact outside the US borders, simply because of the power and influence of Uncle Sam.

The speech was scheduled at 9:15AM. This required a determined effort on my part to wake up at about 6:00AM - not an easy one, to get to the campus with ample time to spare and get a good view of the one-time Rhodes scholar. I still thought it was worth it, though. The plan was to get to UCLA at 8:40 to get ahead of the others and grab the perfect spot for taking a picture or video of Clinton. Har har..

Anyways, I prepared my things the night before the event. Digital camera, checked. Printed ticket, checked. Cellphone with video recording capabilities, checked. Alarm clock set at 5:40, checked.. I went to bed earlier than usual (read: 12:15AM)**. For some reason, I couldn't sleep soundly so I grabbed and read a book at about 1:00AM, 4.5 hours to go before wakeup time. I finally got my sleep at 3:15AM... 2.5 hours of sleep...

By the time, I was half-half-awake at 5:45 to 6:20, going back to sleep never felt so good. It took a while before I was able to get up. I permitted myself some more time to close my eyes. Just a little bit more Rom, you have a long day ahead of you. Some moments of oblivion follow...

And then some more... Is it too much now? Indulge yourself.

Then it was time to rise. The clock greeted my morning with its report of the time. It read: 9:48AM. There was no way I could make it. Great!

Therefore, my mind came up with these consoling ideas: It's not like you would have met a prominent person. You would just have watched the person maybe even from afar. No big deal, eh?

**As I try to recall, it could even be later than 12:15